Archives for 2017

You may have noticed many students on campus working on Apple iPads this year, or writing on them with a high-tech “pencil” in some cases. Norwich is one of a few universities leading the way in exploring use of the powerful devices in classes, labs and for homework.

So what do students using them think? Opinion depends on the students and the major, but based on interviews, the iPad initiative holds promise – and also some issues for Norwich administrators.

Professor Aron Temkin, the Dean of the College of Professional Schools, oversees the iPad initiative working with the Norwich president, board of trustees, and the provost. “The iPad initiative is an effort to enhance the access faculty and students have to technology in a way that supports their teaching, their learning and their scholarship,” explained Dana Routhier, the office manager of college of professional schools, who is playing an important role in the deployment of the iPad initiative.

According to Routhier, there are approximately 240 iPad users this semester. The users are upperclassman who are majors in nursing, athletic training, history, studies in war and peace, psychology, education, geology, environmental science and Chinese.

In interviews, students in those departments shared the experiences and impressions that had using the devices. Most students held a positive initial reaction when finding out that they would get iPads, but some expressed confusion about what they were supposed to do with them.

“For me, I have a lot of technology so I felt like it was another thing to try out,” said Alec Schreurs, a 20-year-old junior health science major from Ansbach, Germany. [Read more…]

By Aron Temkin, Dean College of Professional SchoolsDecember 18, 20171 Comment

In August of 2016, Norwich began to equip some students and faculty with Apple iPad Pros. The principal hope of this initiative is to provide a robust set of tools to our students, through a mobile computing platform, that can expand and improve opportunities for engaged personal learning.

In some companies, like IBM, mobile computing devices now outnumber laptops and desktops. Encouraged by this evolution and the growing scope of mobile computing in primary education, industry, and professional practice, this initiative has been exploring how iPads may be used to enrich studying and learning at Norwich while promoting another level of digital literacy for all students.

What changes occur when an instructor at Norwich can count on everyone in a classroom having equal resources and ready access to information? We expect that providing a common mobile device to every student will provide new opportunities for studying, collaboration, experimentation, fact-finding research and content generation.

The iPad Initiative’s first group of faculty and students began in fall 2016 with 113 student devices issued to sophomores in nursing, sports medicine, athletic training, and studies of war and peace, together with the seniors in psychology. Initially a group of 25 faculty volunteered to participate and explore how the device could impact teaching and learning in their classes. By the end of the first semester more faculty expressed interest and by last spring more than 60 faculty were using iPads. As of January 2018, the number of faculty and staff users will total 119.

Approximately 230 students in eight departments are using iPads this year, a number that is planned to nearly triple in fall of 2018 to more than 600 students when iPads will be required for all students in nursing and all incoming (i.e. freshmen) students in the Bachelor of Arts majors. Last year’s and this year’s students have been using university-owned devices and the students have not incurred any individual cost. Once the iPad is required for an academic program, students will be issued iPads to keep and will pay for the device through a dedicated fee. We are still determining how the fee will be structured, but the intent is for this expense to simply cover the educational cost of the iPad Pro, Pencil, and case – the same “kit” students are using now. [Read more…]

Professor Michael Kelley sat back in the library armchair as he looked through the Norwich War Whoop of 1974. As he flipped through the pages, he knew exactly where to go as he pointed at a picture of a cadet colonel that shared a striking resemblance with himself.

“Here I am over here, without the mustache”, said Kelley. “The mustache started at ROTC summer camp in ‘73, I didn’t want to have my official portrait in Jackman Hall and the one in the yearbook having a mustache.”

Kelley would keep his mustache during his reign as cadet colonel in 1974 and during his tenure of commandant of cadets as well.

Kelley keeps in contact with the current corps of cadets leaders, both students and administration while he teaches as an engineering professor.

“When you give up command, you should let the new guys have the job,” said Kelley. “I’ll occasionally go up there for a meeting or something, but I try to leave them to their jobs.”

Kelley offered some advice to the new leadership in the commandant’s office as well.

“Get out there and mix it up with the students. That’s an easy thing to say and a hard thing to do,” said Kelley. “Go to pub night or karaoke over at The Mill, or show up at an event where they don’t expect you to be there, just observe, participate, strike up a conversation with somebody. It’s important to see the commandant as a human being.”

Kelley and his wife would often go to the dining hall once a month.

“We just showed up, and I believe that’s important,” said Kelley. “Let the students see you have a human or family side too as well as the job part of your presence.”

Kelley had a lot of respect for his own commandants that were here during his time, and they influenced his leadership style.

“John Wadsworth was the commandant at the time, he influenced me more than he probably knows,” said Kelley. “When it’s a hard time I think about him, and I think about the good people who have come from this place who have miss-stepped now and then or had a bad day. I have to remind myself they are fundamentally good human beings.”

Kelley’s family is unique in another way, which is that he lives in the only commandant housing, famously located right next to the football field. They still pay Norwich to this day. His entire family is a Norwich Family.

“We have four children who went to Norwich, our son who graduated in 2015 is the tenth in our family to graduate from Norwich, and that’s including my wife’s family,” said Kelley. “We got a son-in-law as well who’s graduated from Norwich.”

What many cadets may not know about Kelley is his role in starting what is now known as the Dog River Run, which is a culminating event signaling the end of Rook Week in the modern-day corps of cadets. How it came about has a distinct tinge of humor that involves the longstanding Vermont tradition of skinny-dipping.

“It was a very different time,” said Kelley. “Having to write a letter to Northfield apologizing for the Corps of Cadets going skinny-dipping in the Dog River – that is the product of the very first Dog River Run.”

It was the end of Rook Week in 1974 and the corps wasn’t nearly as organized, according to Kelley.

“Yes, we did things like get uniforms and teach people how to march,” said Kelley. “But it wasn’t quite nearly as structured as it is today.”

The Corps of Cadets not only looked different in 1974, but also thought differently. Kelley remembers that day when they brought the Rooks up to what is now the Norwich Cemetery, which was then Dole Farm.

“The view was even more spectacular then it was today, and we wanted to do something physically demanding, but we also wanted them to see down and see the university from that perspective”, said Kelley. “We were in Vietnam-style fatigues and t-shirts, and we ran them through the river to cool them off.”

Some of the cadets took it upon themselves to go skinny-dipping, according to Kelley. Little did they know the Corps of Cadets weren’t the only ones out that day enjoying the weather.

“There were some people at a bridge that doesn’t exist anymore, and people were standing there, civilians from the community,” said Kelley. “It was then I had my first opportunity to write my letter of apology.”

The spur-of-the-moment decision would go down in history and forever change how the modern corps came to signal the end of Rook Week. As Kelley notes, the aftermath was not as fun as the actual event.

“I did have to eat a dose of humble pie,” said Kelley. “The phones had been ringing and the people from town had been calling and ‘oh by the way you need to write a letter and here’s the people you need to write to.’”

According to Kelley, that little bit of spontaneity and fun is healthy. “At first, I was chagrined at the idea I had to write a letter,” said Kelley.

“I took a deep breath, smiled, and guess you could say ‘the rest is history.’”

When the end of the fall semester approaches, students at Norwich start to plan whether they are coming back for one more semester, going home or transferring. For international students, it is not a simple process and decision to make.

According to U.S. students at Norwich, it is normally not a hard decision. They are all in their country, and the decision of staying or leaving the institution is based on their academics or family issues. But for international students, it is based on a lot more, sometimes difficult, factors.

“It is the end of the semester, and I still don’t feel comfortable here,” said freshman Bivek Rana, who is 19 and a health science major who came all the way from Nepal. “It is a really hard decision to make, because I have to consider a lot of things when coming up with what is best for me.”

The long distances from their country and homesickness are always a strong factor that has a lot of weight in their decision. And according to international students, it sometimes gets into the way of their major goals as a student.

“I knew before coming here that I would have a lot of challenges, since I’m not in my country. But I knew the importance of getting an education here at Norwich for my future, and that is why I decided to give it a chance.” Rana said. “But it is harder than what I expected, I have been thinking a lot about it, and the fact that I miss my family and I’m not in my country started to be something that I can’t deal with.”

When international students struggle not to become preoccupied or distracted, their lives at Norwich become way harder. Though for some students that are able to adapt to their new life at Norwich, leaving the school is something that they don’t think about.

“Thankfully, I came to Norwich as a soccer recruit, so being here to do what I love made it easier for me to be away from home,” said junior Alessandro Delia, 22, a business major from Empoli in Italy. “If I didn’t have soccer I don’t think I would’ve stayed, because I would have struggled a lot to make new friends and to adapt by myself to the life here.”

According to international students involved with sports, the practices and games routine offers kind of a relief from stress for them.

“During my freshman year I still struggled a lot. I really wanted to be in Italy with my friends and family, but soccer helped me make new friends and to find a new family,” Delia said. “The soccer season really helped me while I was sad for not being in my country. Every time I practiced or played, I completely forgot I was so far from home, because I was doing something I loved, and the guys from the team always supported me a lot since they knew my situation.”

One of the things that add to stress for foreign students is the fact that their process of acceptance to transfer to another school is complicated and takes a lot of time.

“I was thinking about transferring to a school in a bigger city, but after I found out how complicated was for me to transfer, I decided to stay here next semester,” said freshman Rameshwar Shrestha, 20, another Nepalese student from Khandbari who is majoring in computer science. “I would have to come back home, and in Nepal go to the American consulate to transfer my visa and all the documentation, and that would take a lot of time.”

Shrestha also commented on how difficult and lengthy his process of being accepted to Norwich was at first. He said it took almost five months for him to receive an answer from Norwich, and he said that going through this process all over again wasn’t worth it.

“Transferring would not be worth it for me, I have everything I need here at Norwich, and for me to get this opportunity was really hard.” Shrestha said. “I wouldn’t even get accepted in another school in time for me to start studying there in the right date, so I figured the right decision for me, it’s to stay here and finish my four years at Norwich.”

Adapting to a new culture, language and lifestyle and dealing with distance from family and friends, were all issues mentioned by these international students when deciding what to do in the upcoming semester. But dealing with all of that in order to get the degree they want, is also part of maturing.

“I’m now going to my fourth semester here at Norwich, and I’m glad I decided to stay instead of transferring or going back home, back there in my freshman year,” said sophomore Ivan Bansah, 20, a health science major from Ghana. “It wasn’t easy, but it is not supposed to be easy. I knew back there that all these difficulties were only going to make me a better person and student,” Bansah said.

Students said that a key to overcoming the concerns about whether to stay or go is having the right mindset and knowing that it is a period of their lives that will define their future and the person they will become. If you can absorb that idea, it becomes an easy decision whether to leave or stay.

“Deciding to stay and accepting all the challenges of being an international student here, was the best decision of my life.” Bansah said. “I already became a more mature person, and I’m focused on the major goal, which is to get my diploma. I know it will always be challenging, but it will be worth it in the end.”

Norwich University last week held its sixth annual Students to Scholars Symposium. The Symposium consists of several workshops and panels that brings students into the mindset of conducting research.

Although summer research fellowships had existed for quite some time, “this was going to be an opportunity at the beginning for students to think about ideas and talk about ideas,” said Dr. Kyle Pivetti, assistant professor of English.

The symposium is run by the Undergraduate Research Committee which is “spearheaded by Professor Woodbury Tease,” said Pivetti. However, this year professor Megan Doczi is filling in for Tease.

Pivetti explained that students really drive the event. “We will set up the panels,” Pivetti said, “but mostly it’s the students though, they’re the ones who bring ideas, they’re the ones who are sharing where they’re at,” he said.

The event itself lasts only two days, a Thursday and Friday each year. Thursday typically consists of workshops for writing research grant proposals and research collaboration.

Thursday night is also an opening event for Friday. Those presenting ideas are awarded certificates and those who conducted research over the previous summer show off their research and help students understand how a summer spent researching really works.

The Thursday night event exists primarily for other students and future researchers to “get to see where other students who may have gone through this program were at, and how they took their idea from the Students to Scholars to get the fellowship,” said Stephanie White, 20, an athletic training major from Starksboro, Vt.

Friday is panel day, where students present their ideas as part of a panel group. Both students and professors in the audience can ask questions and provide input. “The conversation happens between the students giving them [ideas] and the audience responding,” said Pivetti.

“They help you realize how you might improve your project, narrow it down, and make it more specific,” said White.

White presented a research project idea about researching how certain combat boot usage may be causing knee pain for service members. “It’s a great thing to do because it allows you to see, ‘is there someone else wanting to do similar research with me,’ cause then you can always just piggy back with them,” said White. “It allows them [committee] to see where students who might not even apply for the summer scholarships are at,” said White.

“It really did help me try and refine my ideas,” said Benjamin Ferguson, 21, a studies in war and peace major from Stuttgart ,Germany.

Often lots of students may have an idea, but not know quite what to do with it. Pivetti said the Symposium provides opportunities to hear and explore ideas, often to the benefit of its attendees – “Just different ways of approaching problems,” said Pivetti.

“One of the things I always find interesting about the panels is the interdisciplinary nature of all the panels,” said Pivetti. Often on one panel you might have three students of different majors, one in architecture, biology, or even language arts.

“There are other times when students from other disciplines responding to subjects I am familiar with and they ask really great questions or they have insights that I simply wouldn’t consider a lot of the time,” Pivetti said.

In the end, the interdisciplinary aspect of the symposium tends to be its strongest game piece. With a university that has such academic diversity, it allows all of these students and professors to merge together in a type of “think tank,” Pivetti said.

“I’ll definitely be working on it [proposal] over Christmas break so I can have something to bring to my professor and my research advisor,” said White. “I’m hoping to do the fellowship over the summer,” she added.

Granted, there will be many students who are already planning on submitting a proposal for a summer fellowship without having attended the symposium. However, those who have attended should find themselves in a better spot.

“Just with the amount of advice you get, and the questions that they ask you, it allows you to get a better grasp of how you can narrow it down and how you can better your idea to get the fellowship,” White said.

The symposium also permits students to not only make their idea better, but to decide whether or not the entire idea is worth scrapping completely. If you want to make a complete change, “you can do that, because now you have all this advice to help you progress in that new idea,” said White.

The panels go from morning until mid-afternoon. The students have roughly seven to eight minutes of talking time before they are released to a Q and A. “Definitely it’s nerve-wracking having to present your idea, but it was a lot of fun,” said White.

“We’re working on things all the time, we’re open to suggestions,” said Pivetti. The committee for undergraduate research is still looking to expand in any way that would benefit the Norwich community. “Research changes, and there are different projects all the time,” Pivetti said, “we are always open to new ideas.”

For years, the Norwich University board of clubs denied students permission to start an airsoft club for years because of safety reasons. Finally, the Norwich University Airsoft Division was successfully granted permission and formed by students two years ago.

It was started by a small group of seven students, six from the Corps of Cadets and one civilian student, and has rapidly gained members. “The club grew from seven to about 70 students in only two years,” said Andrew Port,, 20, a political science major, from Albuquerque, N.M. Port is also a training sergeant for the Norwich University Airsoft Division (NUAD).

The game or sport known as airsoft had been banned from campus for decades and was originally frowned upon by the board of clubs due to safety concerns. “The game, or sport, is similar to paintball, however the rifles/ guns, ammunition, and specific gaming tactics are different,” explained Port. The main reason why airsoft clubs were denied and banned in the past was due to the fact that the fake guns, or rifles, looked like exact replicas of actual assault rifles.

Airsoft guns tend to look and feel more like real weapons, compared to paintball guns. Also, the ammunition magazines that carry small six-millimeter, plastic BBs also “look exactly like real mags,” said Port. The gear used to carry magazines and other relevant equipment is tailored after, and replicated to look like current military gear.

“The whole issue with airsoft, in general, compared to paintball, is that everything looks real, and can be easily misinterpreted as real military equipment,” said Port.

The original founder of the club, who started it just two years ago, is currently an academic senior and the highest enlisted cadet non-commissioned in the Norwich University Corps of Cadets. Jarrett Cavanagh is a 22-year-old senior mathematics major from Carlisle, Pa., who took on refuting all the objections to the airsoft game.

He started researching, and presented methods for safety and logistics to be able to overcome all of the safety issues that the club board had addressed. The safety rules presented to the board of clubs stipulated that all equipment relevant to airsoft is kept in a locked locker storage, outside of dorms, to avoid confusion about whether they are real weapons.

The other rules proposed were in regard to personal safety and location of playing or training. The major safety concern was how would club staff stress the priority and enforcement of eye and facial protection, along with items to cover and block barrels, to avoid any misfire. The practice location is strictly reserved on location on Paine Mountain and Dole Hill, at a specific time on weekends.

After these rules were presented two years ago, the club passed through the board and was formed. The original seven students “shaped everything, the chain of command, logistics, specialty positions, rules, training, etc,” said Daniel Almueti, 22, from Oklahoma City Oklahoma, one of the original seven students involved. Over two years, the club has grown to more than 60 members.

“The club’s number and capacity will probably continue to grow every year,” said Almueti, “club fundraising and other group efforts will allow that to happen.”

“The Norwich University Airsoft Division has quadrupled in size and strength,” said Brennan Mulvaney, 20, a criminal justice major from Leominster, Mass. He has been in the club for over one year, and is the training sergeant and squad leader for First Squad.

“Airsoft is growing popular at Norwich because it is a sport based off of military tactics,” said Mulvaney. “NUAD is using these replicated rifles and gear, along with real military tactics, to better train and compete against other teams. Because we are a military university with different military branches, the team has also been able to mix and combine different tactics,” said Mulvaney. “This keeps us a step ahead of other teams, made up of civilians, that we may face and compete against in the future.”

“Although the club has grown exponentially in only two years, logistics and equipment is still going to be a challenge to keep the club running smoothly,” said Samson Faccon, 20, an architecture sophomore from Cornwall, N.Y. Faccon is also currently enlisted and serving in the United States Marine Corps Reserves’ technical field. “I have only been in the club for about one year, but I already see it as one cohesive unit,” said Faccon. “Although it is not yet up to par with the actual military, it is still one well-rounded team.”

“It’s pretty cool using combat tactics and skills that I have actually used in the U.S. Marine Corps, and implemented them into a sport,” said Faccon. “I have also used those military tactics to teach other new players on the field how to be a step above our future opponents.”

“I have seen the team grow from a dozen students, to over 70,” said Garrett Louth, a 22-year-old academic junior, majoring in history, from Philadelphia, Pa. He is currently a training sergeant in NUAD.

Although the safety rules are demanding, the club will be able to keep those rules in check, no matter how large it becomes, “due to our discipline, safety rules, and respect for law and authority at a military college,” said Louth.

“Treating the airsoft guns like real firearms increases the whole safety aspect, if anything, the team, or club, will only grow stronger in skill and numbers,” said Louth.

In the three weeks that the Norwich men’s basketball team has to return to campus early, four days will be spent in Florida participating in a tournament and bringing in the New Year. The rest of the time will be spent cloistered on campus, practicing for up to four hours a day, scrounging to find meals and entertainment.

It’s part of the sacrifice basketball players make to train and improve their skills while others are kicking back on holiday break.

The men’s basketball team will arrive back on campus on Dec. 27, in preparation for their flight to Florida on Dec. 28, said Richard Giroux, 21, a point guard from Colchester, Vt., who is a senior and criminal justice major.

While in Florida, they will participate in the Land of Magic Tournament. The tournament will entail two games, one against Wilkes University from Wilkes-Barre, Pa, and the other against Colby-Sawyer College from New London, N.H.

The last day of final exams for the fall semester is Dec. 19. Classes for the spring semester are set to begin on Jan. 22. Students are able to return back to campus as early as Jan. 20 but the men’s team has a decidedly shorter time away this year.

“It is exciting to come back from break early this year,” said Ryan Booth, 21, who plays forward and is a senior physical education major from Northfield, Vt.. “We get to travel to Florida and it is the team’s first time out of New England since I have been on the team.”

In previous winter breaks, the team has “practiced for roughly a week before playing a game,” said Joseph Bertrand, 21, another forward who is a senior and majors in physical education from Saugus, Mass. In the past, the team also partook in “two, two-hour practices per day” in that week before games are played.

The team will return to campus on Jan. 2, 2018 after completion of the Florida tournament. The athletes will remain on campus and will begin their traditional winter break routine. The goal is to get ready for an intense schedule in the new year.

“Once we arrive back in Vermont, we will practice for a few days before beginning a streak of six games,” said Giroux. “Between playing six games in 14 days and fitting practices inbetween the games, there is little free time left over the break.”

Each player spends their free time differently. Players partake in a wide variety of pastimes, for example “sleeping, spending extra time practicing, lifting, playing video games, or just hanging out with each other,” Bertrand said.

“One of my favorite things to do when we are not practicing or playing over the break is to get to know some of the freshman players on a more personal level,” Booth said. “Since we are always so busy with school or practice, it makes it challenging to really interact with the freshmen.”

The Cadets will host three of the games at home and be on the road for the other three. According to a few of the men’s players, it is best to play away games during winter break because there are “no classes and no worries about academic obligations.”

Basketball is one of the few athletic teams that are in season for both academic semesters, as they begin games in October and continue through the middle of February. Because of this, they are obligated to arrive back on campus before other students and are not able to spend much time at home around the holiday season.

“It is especially hard for people on the team who don’t have easy access to get home,” said Mike Hogervorst, 21, a senior electrical engineering major and men’s basketball center from Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands. “We are all away from home and not able to spend time with friends and family like the other students on campus.”

Being away from home over the winter break makes it “challenging to spend time with friends from home,” Bertrand agreed. Winter break is the longest break during the academic year.

“The break between semesters is typically about a month long,” Giroux said. “This month-long break occurs for most colleges, making it the easiest time to see friends who are away from home for college as well.”

The break between semesters is “the most neutral break where most of my friends are back in town,” Bertrand said. Because the basketball players are not able to spend much time at home, they find ways to make being on campus feel like they are still on break

“Even though we are on campus for most of our winter break, it does not feel normal because there is no homework to do and no one in the buildings,” Booth said. “This is the only time while in season that we can actually just relax and focus on just basketball.”

Still, staying on campus during winter break does have some downsides as well, according to Giroux. As everything on campus is closed, that makes access to food harder than it normally is when school is in session.

“The chow hall is closed until the Sunday before the first day of the spring semester,” Hogervorst said. “A lot of us rely on the students who live off campus as a place we can go to cook meals.”

Getting food is not as “difficult for those who live locally,” Booth said. The players who live locally are able to get meals and snacks from home and bring it back to campus.

“It is easier to prepare individual meals at home and just bring it back to campus,” Giroux said. “Then all that is left for me to do is reheat my meal in the microwave.”

Norwich University student-athletes face multiple hardships during their time on campus as they try to balance their academic and athletic responsibilities. But some choose an even harder path, participating in two sports in an academic year. Although they admit it can be a struggle, these two-sport players have been able to thrive and succeed despite the pressures of this lifestyle.

A few different athletics programs share athletes with one another, both on the men’s side and the women’s side, although the total number of twosport athletes at Norwich on the women’s programs heavily outweigh those on men’s teams.

Norwich athletics goes through three seasons: a fall season, a winter season, and a spring season. About five to eight different teams are underway per season, and a student-athlete can participate on at least one team each season.

Athletically, a major problem for twosport athletes comes when seasons overlap. Head Norwich women’s volleyball coach Ashlynn Nuckols, who currently coaches two two-sport athletes, noted that “when you cross over seasons, you can tell the difference between (people) when it’s just one sport and two sports at that time.”

Seasons can sometimes overlap for just a few days, or for as long as a month. If a student is playing for a team in the fall season and a team for the winter season, or a team in the winter and a team in the spring, issues may gradually arise.

This overlapping period can result in student-athletes either missing practice for one of those teams, or partaking in two practices a day, one for each team.

“The hardest struggle for me was the transfer over from volleyball to basketball,” said Rebecca Finley, an 18-year old freshman psychology and criminal justice double major who plays women’s basketball and volleyball. “Towards the end of volleyball, it was already three weeks into basketball season. I was doing double practices every day, and trying to keep up with all my school work.”

These student-athletes face a handful of challenges throughout the academic year: their academics are at the forefront, but some are also enrolled in the Corps of Cadets.

“The Corps takes up a lot of my time,” Finley said. “It puts on a lot of added stress on you, especially being a freshman going through rookdom.”

Other students, meanwhile, maintain other responsibilities. Teresa Segreti, a 22-year old senior athletic training major from Salisbury Mills, N.Y., who plays women’s hockey and women’s lacrosse, is also a member of the Vermont Guard.

“It’s definitely challenging trying to make it to every practice or game,” Segreti said. “Between drill weekends, school, and balancing two practice schedules, it’s sometimes hard to pick and choose because I can only be in one place at a time.” Like Finley, Segreti also faces the challenge of doing double practices; women’s hockey runs during the winter season, while women’s lacrosse is held during the spring season.

“A disadvantage is the fatigue. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tired,” Segreti said. “Especially on days where I happen to be able to make both lacrosse and hockey practice, and I’m running from one practice to the next.” B o t h coaches and student-athletes have seen an advantage in playing two or more sports in college, however. Firstyear men’s and women’s swimming and diving head coach Jay Schotter said that these athletes “might have ideas of leadership and team morale and how they’ve faced struggles with other teams,” adding that is something he always looks for in these student-athletes.

Nuckols agreed with Schotter, saying that these student-athletes “grew up in these sports, so they understand the team dynamics of each team.”

Another advantage for two-sport athletes is the ability to regularly stay fit and in shape, and, as Schotter pointed out, “they’re able to come in and have the attitude of cross-training.”

“When one season is over, the other starts and they overlap for a month or so,” Segreti agreed“So I’m constantly working different muscle groups and staying conditioned and in shape.”

Ultimately, these student-athletes have shared mixed experiences and results in their time at Norwich University. “I have seen a wide variety. I’ve seen some get overwhelmed, burn out, and quit both sports, while barely maintaining their academic standing,” said Emily Oliver, a 21- year old junior mechanical engineering and pre-med double major from Sagamore Hills, Ohio. “I’ve seen others do extremely well, enjoy their time with their team, and cherish their free time.”

Along with being a double major, Oliver is currently the only three-sport athlete at Norwich University. Oliver was the team captain for the women’s volleyball program this past year, is a starting guard for the women’s basketball team, and is one of the premier pitchers for the softball program.

With being a three-sport athlete, Oliver has undergone some of the same challenges that two-sport athletes have experienced, but to a further extreme. Oliver noted that, although she has been able to form special bonds with three different teams, she may not meet people if they either are not on one of her teams or in one of her classes. Although being a two-sport athlete adds an immense amount of stress onto an already exhausting schedule, those who decide to participate in multiple sports do it for meaningful purposes. “Playing two sports is a choice we make. It would be easy to only play one sport and balance everything, so I believe we have a certain drive and enjoy the challenge,” Segreti said. “I’d like to think we all love athletics and love to compete, so overall our experience is positive.”

Oliver provided key advice to those who play two or more sports, or to those who might be interested in pursuing the hectic lifestyle of a two-sport competitor.

“Prioritize your responsibilities. Academics come before anything, that’s what you’re here to do. Teammates come second, you have a responsibility to them to show up in your fullest form, you spend more time with them than you do with your friends during season,” Oliver said.

Oliver has enjoyed distinct success at Norwich University, despite facing the challenges and hardships of double majoring and extensively playing three different sports. She has been named to the Dean’s List every semester at Norwich.

“Finally, you have a responsibility to yourself,” Oliver said. “Make sure you’re still enjoying what you’re doing, and you have time for yourself.”

When Norwich University hired a new member of the wrestling coaching staff this season, it got someone ranked number two in the country at 63 kilograms.

For Women’s Freestyle Wrestling. That’s right, Norwich’s new wrestling coach is a female, Erin Clodgo, a Richmond, Vt. native, and a Northern Michigan University alum.

She has spent the last 13 years of her life training out of the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Co. Having been a U.S. World Team member since 2007, Clodgo has decided to give coaching a try, and decided to start helping the Norwich University wrestling team.

“It has been awesome having coach Erin around. She really pushes us hard in training, and we’re all pretty dang sore the next day after she comes in. Whenever she says ‘I hope you ate your Wheaties this morning,’ we know it’s going to be a tough day,” said Brendan Desfosses, who wrestles at 157 lbs. and is a 19-year-old sophomore international studies major, from Methuen, Mass.

“Having Erin in the room helping out has been great. Coach Keating has traveled the world competing, and training in Russia, and he has seen a lot of different styles, but not nearly to the same degree as Erin has. She is bringing in a whole new style and background to us,” said Alex Whitney, head wrestling coach for Norwich University.

Assistant coach Connor Keating has spent quite a few years competing at the world level as well, having trained with U.S. and Russian national team members as well as coaches. He comes from a very similar wrestling background as Whitney. They have been teammates in college, thus giving them an extremely similar approach to wrestling, having been under the same coaching staff together.

“Clodgo has had a completely different upbringing in the sport, having been under different coaches. She brings an entirely new set of experiences and approaches to Norwich with her,” Whitney said.

Clodgo bringing in this new set of experiences and backgrounds has been immediately acknowledged and appreciated by the coaches and wrestlers alike.

“Having Coach Erin has been a wonderful learning experience for me. She has helped me open up more as a wrestler, and gave me new ways of hitting certain attacks, that I wasn’t quite getting with either of coaches before,” said Jack Schultz, 157 lbs., a 19-year-old freshman psychology major, from Cedar Grove, N.J. “She helped me a lot with building on my fireman’s carry (a type of leg attack in wrestling), specifically being able to use enough of my opponent’s pressure against him to hit this move quicker and smoother than before.”

Schultz has seen a lot of improvements on the minute details of certain techniques, and attributes this all to Clodgo.

“She is extremely nitpicky about the smallest things, and this has proven to be the difference maker in whether or not I score in my matches,” Schultz said.

Schultz isn’t the only wrestler who appreciates Clodgo’s nitpicking on technique. Senior captain Jonathan Graziane was also subject to Clodgo’s precise teaching on technique.

On Clodgo’s first day helping out the cadets she was training primarily with Graziane. “I had no idea who she was, why she was here, or any of her accolades. I was just told to wrestle with her,” said Jonathan Graziane, who wrestles at 141 lbs. and is a senior and captain. “I didn’t know she was going to be a coach, nobody introduced her, coach Whitney just brought her in to bang heads with us and teach us a little lesson in wrestling,” said Graziane, 22, an environmental science major, from Plattsburg, N.Y.

“Not even five minutes into wrestling with her, she had already corrected my form on my double legs drastically.”

Clodgo has helped build on technique at a rapid pace, according to Whitney. “Normally when we teach a technique, it will take months to see that technique used in a match. I don’t know why, but that has been the way it is in all my years coaching. With coach Erin it has been different. Guys are making these changes in their arsenal a lot more rapidly,” Whitney said.

Graziane and Schultz are just two of quite a few examples of the wrestlers making these quick alterations in adapting their many moves.

“Since coach Erin came in and started helping us, I started attacking more in matches. At the Roger Williams Invitational tournament, I was down by six points in my second match. It was the third and final period, and I needed to push the tempo of the match. What I was trying earlier in the match wasn’t working, so I said screw it,” Graziane said. “I hit two double legs and that lead to me getting back points and I ended up winning the match.”

Graziane attributed that win to Clodgo helping him gain confidence in his double leg takedowns. “My cardio was there well before coach Erin came along. My mental toughness grew through having coach Whitney and coach Keating, but as far as technique goes, I wouldn’t have gone for that specific move before coach Erin came and helped me,” Graziane said.

PJ Testino, a 141 lb wrestler and 20-yearold junior in construction management major from Dingmans Ferry, Pa., Clodgo’s coaching style is an “intensified variation on coach Keating’s style,” Testino said. “Coach Keating is pretty intense and I kind of see coach Whitney as the more laid-back coach, but now it’s like coach K is the happy middle for us.”

“Like coach Keating, she is hard-nosed in her approach. She is fast-paced, and really pushes us harder than we’’e been pushed before. It’s awesome having somebody as decorated as her in here with us day in and day out,” said Testino.

Calling Clodgo a highly decorated wrestler is an understatement. “In 2007 she joined the U.S. Junior World team, and in ‘08, she placed third in the world team trials. In ‘09 alone she took second in the Sunkist Kids International Open, Third in the U.S. World Team Trials, and sixth in the U.S. Nationals,” Whitney said.

“In 2010, she took third in the Hargobind International, second in the Sunkist Kids International Open, third in the Canada Cup, second in the U.S. World Team Trials, and was the U.S. Open champion. That was just in 2010,” Whitney said. “In 2011 she took second in the Pan American Championships, second in the U.S. Open, fourth at the Dave Schultz Memorial International. I can keep going on and on.”

On and on Whitney went. “In 2012, she was second in the U.S. World Team Wrestle-Off, second in the Hari Ram Grand Prix in India, third in the Klippan Lady Open in Sweden, third in the Dave Schultz Memorial International, third in the Ivan Yarygin Memorial in Russia, and third in the U.S. Open. I’ll just skip forward to 2016 and on,” Whitney said. “In 2016, she took fifth in the Open Cup in Russia, second in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, she won the Pan American Olympic Games Qualifier, placed third in the Olympic Test Event in Brazil, and took third in the U.S. Open,” Whitney continued.

In this year alone Clodgo also “won the U.S. Open, and on Nov. 2, 2017, had won the Dave Schultz Memorial International tournament.” Whitney finished up with this: “When USA Wrestling was interviewing her, she had even said she’s been going up to Norwich University in Vermont and helping coach there and wrestling there. It has been an honor to work with them and for me to read that was an amazing thing to hear.”

Clodgo winning the Dave Schultz Memorial International tournament was big news not only for the U.S. women’s national team, and for Clodgo herself, but big news for Norwich as well. Clodgo training with and helping coach Norwich’s team brings on the plethora of experiences she has had, from herself, and the learning experiences from every match. Norwich wrestlers are now able to further their own knowledge through training with Clodgo, and this is hoped to help grow the wrestling program.

It is also very new to the sport of wrestling having a female coach, on the men’s wrestling team. For every wrestler interviewed, only one wrestler has ever experienced a female coach.

Schultz, the New Jersey native, has never had a female coach, but quite a few programs in his area whom he competed against had female coaches.

“I never had a female coach, but in New Jersey there were also enough women in wrestling to constitute having women’s wrestling teams,” Schultz said. “These women’s wrestling teams usually had at least one female coach.”

Whitney has seen females in the wrestling world more often as the sport of wrestling continues to grow. “Coach Keating and myself were down in Florida for the National Wrestling Coaches Association convention in August, and there were a good number of female coaches there. There were definitely more women there than in the past. There were roughly ten female coaches there of the hundreds of coaches in attendance,” Whitney said.

“In this day in wrestling, women’s wrestling is becoming an emerging and growing sport, and it actually just became a Division I sport,” Whitney elaborated.

What is next for Clodgo, and Norwich wrestling? “I really hope she stays around for the long run,” Desfosses said.

Clodgo, while still competing, will still be helping out with coaching and for Norwich, this means having an extremely accomplished World Team member in the wrestling room helping shape the Norwich wrestling program.

Norwich students and the dating app Tinder have what you might call an up and down relationship: Sometimes, it’s rocky, other times everything is sweet.
Some students just use it for fun, as a way to talk to other people around them. Others use it to find a relationship or go on dates. If it’s successful, or not, is always a gamble, said Christopher Richards, 20, a junior criminal justice major from Minneapolis Minnesota.
“I used it before I came to Norwich,” said Cody Adams, 18, a freshman business management major from Newark New Jersey. “It definitely helps getting out there while up here because it opens up your window to talk to people from other universities,”
“Most people here at the school use Tinder as a way to get out there, so we aren’t limited to just Norwich,” agrees Steve Gordon, 19, a sophomore criminal justice major from Boston, Mass.
For those not familiar with it, “Tinder is basically a dating app that people can swipe left or right depending if they want to match with that person; when you match with someone you can go on a date or just talk to them,” explains Fredrick Fox, 19, a sophomore architecture major from Kansas City, Mo. [Read more…]